When Sachin Tendulkar played the Ranji Trophy opener earlier this year, it was considered a momentous event, enough for reports on the sports pages of major dailies. That’s because the last time he played in a Ranji match was January 2009. It is significant that Mr Tendulkar’s 2012 participation in India’s oldest domestic cricket tournament was driven by a need to get into form ahead of the home series against England. Every other Indian cricketing star replicates this rare appearance in domestic tournaments. Once they make it into the national team via the domestic circuit, they are conspicuous by their absence in the tournaments that elevated them. The result is that Indian cricket periodically suffers a drought of cricketers with sufficient international exposure to hone their skills before they enter the big league. And so India struggles to find reliable batting replacements for Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly and V V S Laxman, or bowlers of the calibre of Anil Kumble or Zaheer Khan. Cheteshwar Pujara is one candidate, having earned his spurs in an India A tour to England in 2010 and having knocked up a decent average of 66 in eight Tests. The other player who is being talked about is Unmukt Chand, captain of the victorious Under-19 team at the World Cup — yet he hasn’t been fully blooded in the leading domestic tournaments.
It can be argued that a crowded international cricketing calendar precludes such participation, but England, South Africa and Australia do not seem to suffer this chronic periodical talent shortage. Sportsmen will understand that it is critical for talented, emerging bowlers to bowl to world-class batsmen as often as possible. Yet this basic truth seems to have escaped the notice of the administrators of the game in India till recently. From the next season, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has made it mandatory for every domestic player participating in the Indian Premier League (IPL) to play at least 60 per cent of his matches in the Ranji Trophy.
Focus on the smash-and-bang IPL as ruining India’s Test team makes some sense. But the league may not be purely responsible — India led the Test rankings from the end of 2009 till mid-2011, in the thick of IPL action, which began in 2008. Many current South African players participate in the tournament, but this has not impaired the team’s form one whit. The point is that other cricket boards do not privilege T20 tournaments over first-class matches — quite the reverse. About two years ago, the Australian Cricket Board clamped down on its star cricketers ducking domestic tournaments, and it is worth noting that the team is currently suffering a shortage of durable talent. The IPL gives young cricketers unmatched exposure to international stars; if the board permits this to be matched with a strengthened first-class schedule, then India’s bench strength will concomitantly increase. The corporate sector has a standard policy for talent-building called “grow your own timber”. It is time the highly profitable BCCI focused a little more on this common-sense approach.
